This Poem is dedicated to any and all who have mailed invoices at Ankney Law.
"Mailings"
"There is something sickeningly satisfying about licking envelopes.
Getting my slobber all over an oddly flavored strip of paper.
Having my tongue feel like sandpaper when the day is through
The only thing better would be nutella flavoring.
stuffing, sealing, stamping
stuffing, sealing, stamping
like an internationally mailed turkey must feel.
I think my tongue has become calloused
from all the friction
but this may help my endeavors
at using it to play my guitar.
I marvel at the mailman
come to collect
the letters as mothers collect small children from daycare
and toss them in large shiny bins,
never to be seen by my eyes again.
Does he have a bladder problem?
Creasing sharply,
Folding softly,
Wondering why email's crippling blow
to the postal system
wasn't a fatal one.
Then I wouldn't have to do this,
but I'd be out of a job.
Stamping, Stacking
Stamping, Stacking
Mailtime. "
I like the allusions to socialist america and the general feeling of emptiness and monotony that the poem produces. There is a sense that the speaker's inability to understand his deep feelings is reflected through the thematic undertones of messages being delivered through the postal system. A shift comes at the end of the poem after the speaker discovers an inner truth, a conflict between the digital world and the newly antiquated world of the mailman. He would be out of a job indeed. I wonder if the speaker is a diehard socialist or an ironic conservative. Either way he must thank Obama.
ReplyDeleteI like the allusions to socialist America and the general feeling of emptiness and monotony that the poem produces. There is a sense that the speaker's inability to understand his deep feelings is reflected through the thematic undertones of messages being delivered through the postal system. A shift comes at the end of the poem after the speaker discovers an inner truth, a conflict between the digital world and the newly antiquated world of the mailman. He would be out of a job indeed. I wonder if the speaker is a diehard socialist or an ironic conservative. Either way he must thank Obama.
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful. I may print it off and tape it to my mirror.
ReplyDeleteLaura--I almost expect to see this hanging over our new vanity in three weeks.
ReplyDeleteJacob--please don't play your guitar (or Tommy's mando) with your tongue. Double ew.